Gingrich got $300,000 to promote ethanol

Newt Gingrich, who raised eyebrows this winter with his spirited defense of U.S. ethanol policy, received more than $300,000 in consulting fees from an industry trade group in 2009, according to a report by the investigative journalism organization the Center for Public Integrity.

According to the report, the ethanol group Growth Energy paid the former House speaker $312,500 in 2009. A Growth Energy publication listed Gingrich as a consultant who offered advice on “strategy and communication issues” and who “will speak positively on ethanol related topics to media.”

Gingrich tangled with the Wall Street Journal’s conservative editorial board after a pro-ethanol speech in Des Moines in January and declared at one point, “I am not a lobbyist for ethanol.”

Growth Energy was formed in 2008 by leaders of the industry who wanted to be more aggressive in fighting attacks from food companies and other opponents.

The group needed Gingrich’s advice because the founders “were people who were never involved in D.C. politics before, and they were looking for someone who knew how to get things done,” Growth Energy spokesman Chris Thorne told the Center for Public Integrity. The group did not pay Gingrich anything in 2010, Thorne told CPI.

Gingrich spokesman Rick Tyler responded in an email today: “Newt has never done any lobbying.” Tyler said Gingrich draws “a parallel between a sound American energy strategy and keeping America safe. He supports an ‘all of the above’ energy strategy” to keep energy costs low “while creating the most jobs here at home.”

source: blogs.desmoinesregister